Need Honest Advice

[ITGUY33]

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Hello all,

I am a 34 year old Network Administrator contemplating a career change to medicine. I am currently in college working on my first 4 year degree and am currently pre-med with a 3.94 overall GPA and 4.00 BCMP GPA. I am having a really hard time making a final decision and sticking to it as to whether to continue with the medical school path. My thoughts were to shoot for Radiology as I have always been technically inclined. The medical field is very interesting to me but I have absolutely no experience within it. I have been volunteering at a local ER and don't have any major dislikes about it. Even with that, I can't seem to find the information, answers, or advice that can help me find the answer to the question that has been on my mind for several months now: "Is this what I want to do?"

I would be in my mid-forties once I completed med-school, residency and fellowship from what I have been able to gather. With no experience in the medical field I have nothing to help me make the final decision as to whether it is something that will fit me or not. I don't have a problem with the amount of hard work and studying that will have to go into a medical career because I really enjoy continuing education. I do have concerns about medical school rotations. I don't know how I will be with the surgical rotations and ER rotations. What happens if a person gets into those rotation and just aren't able to handle surgery? Are they failed out or what?

I know this is a long post and some of you probably think I'm a nut case, but I would really like to find some guidance to help with some of my concerns. I am open to any and all information/critisism. Thanks in advance for reading and replying.

 

[Lokhtar]

Hello all,

I am a 34 year old Network Administrator contemplating a career change to medicine. I am currently in college working on my first 4 year degree and am currently pre-med with a 3.94 overall GPA and 4.00 BCMP GPA. I am having a really hard time making a final decision and sticking to it as to whether to continue with the medical school path. My thoughts were to shoot for Radiology as I have always been technically inclined. The medical field is very interesting to me but I have absolutely no experience within it. I have been volunteering at a local ER and don't have any major dislikes about it. Even with that, I can't seem to find the information, answers, or advice that can help me find the answer to the question that has been on my mind for several months now: "Is this what I want to do?"

First of alll, that GPA makes me so jealous - I wish I was mature from the beginning.

In any case, you would be in mid forties after everything, but there are others in a similar situation who have done it, so if its really what you want to do - go for it. How do you know? You are volunteering at a ED, which is a good start. I would also try to get physicians to let you shadow them for a couple days. Look at what they do on a daily basis. Try doing that with a couple physicians in different specialties, and see if you enjoy what they do. As the poster below me says, you'll be forty-something in 10 years no matter what you do, and the only thing you can control is whether you'll be debugging a TCP/IP stack, or debugging a patient. 😛

I would be in my mid-forties once I completed med-school, residency and fellowship from what I have been able to gather. With no experience in the medical field I have nothing to help me make the final decision as to whether it is something that will fit me or not. I don't have a problem with the amount of hard work and studying that will have to go into a medical career because I really enjoy continuing education. I do have concerns about medical school rotations. I don't know how I will be with the surgical rotations and ER rotations. What happens if a person gets into those rotation and just aren't able to handle surgery? Are they failed out or what?

That is just the last thing you should worry about. If its what you want to do, you will be fine. You don't have to ace every rotation, but if you pay attention and do the hard work, you can get through the rotations. That's a long way away, and you'll have lots of options. Don't bother yourself about it now.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

Agree with above advice on trying to find some shadowing experiences. If rads is interesting to you, look for opportunities to shadow specifically in this field.

Med school/residency/fellowship is a long road, and yes, you'll be 40-something when you're done, but keep in mind that in X years you'll be 40-something anyway - the only difference is what you'll be doing every day. What seems interesting/challenging/stimulating to you? If medicine excites you, pursue it.

Don't worry about the surgery & other difficult rotations - pretty much everyone gets through them. Not every rotation will be super fun, but that's ok. The hardest thing about med school for a lot of people is just getting in. Once you're in, if you do the work & put in a reasonable effort, you're going to finish. Really, the school isn't looking for reasons to fail people out. I know a good number of people who thought surgery rotation sucked, but all of them got through it without a major problem, and a few of them even got honors.

Good luck to you!

 

[QofQuimica]

You're not a nutcase; you're being sensible. Anyone at our point in life (30s or beyond) ought to think long and hard about whether going back to school is something they really want to do. Like the previous people said, definitely do some more shadowing, and broaden your experiences. Most fields are nothing like the ER. See if you can spend some time shadowing in internal medicine or family practice, observe a surgery, and/or hang out in radiology. Keep talking to different physicians until you're more certain of what you want to do.

Don't worry about rotations right now; you can jump off that bridge once you get there. Right now just worry about figuring out what you want to be when you grow up. Best of luck to you, and congrats on that snazzy GPA. 👍

 

[DrMidlife]

I'm 41, and will hopefully start med school at 42. I don't have or want kids, I'm not the least bit timid, I have more energy than most 25 year olds, and I'm not going into medicine to get rich or famous. These things help.

I've read everything I can get my hands on about the profession. This includes the NYTimes every day, and books about public health, medical education, global health, and lots of med student and physician memoirs. I've shadowed 5 physicians this year, and I'll continue to do this up until the day I start med school. I don't much like surprises. I've done healthcare voluntourism a couple of times, and that really helped solidify my ambitions.

I made myself do a couple of exercises over the last couple years while preparing for med school.

First, I described as truthfully as I could the job that I think I want, without using the word "doctor." Then as I learned what being a doctor is actually about (hopefully you'll learn this from shadowing), and as I "knew from" doctor, then I could actually say that being a doctor was the job I wanted, as opposed to, say, nursing or teaching or being a hospital policy executive or epidemiologist.

Second, I continually seek out doctors, and other people I respect, to try to talk me out of it. My policy is that if there's anything I want to do as much as I want to be a doctor, I should do the other thing. Really.

Best of luck to you, and keep us posted.

 

[njbmd]

Hello all,

I am a 34 year old Network Administrator contemplating a career change to medicine. I am currently in college working on my first 4 year degree and am currently pre-med with a 3.94 overall GPA and 4.00 BCMP GPA. I am having a really hard time making a final decision and sticking to it as to whether to continue with the medical school path. My thoughts were to shoot for Radiology as I have always been technically inclined. The medical field is very interesting to me but I have absolutely no experience within it. I have been volunteering at a local ER and don't have any major dislikes about it. Even with that, I can't seem to find the information, answers, or advice that can help me find the answer to the question that has been on my mind for several months now: "Is this what I want to do?"

I would be in my mid-forties once I completed med-school, residency and fellowship from what I have been able to gather. With no experience in the medical field I have nothing to help me make the final decision as to whether it is something that will fit me or not. I don't have a problem with the amount of hard work and studying that will have to go into a medical career because I really enjoy continuing education. I do have concerns about medical school rotations. I don't know how I will be with the surgical rotations and ER rotations. What happens if a person gets into those rotation and just aren't able to handle surgery? Are they failed out or what?

I know this is a long post and some of you probably think I'm a nut case, but I would really like to find some guidance to help with some of my concerns. I am open to any and all information/critisism. Thanks in advance for reading and replying.

I started medical school at age 45 and General Surgery residency at age 50. Now, I am happily finishing my fellowship in Vascular Surgery. Age hasn't been much of a limitation for me (I am no more tired than my colleagues).

At this point, your focus should be on getting into medical school period. You are going to be exposed to loads of specialties and experiences. After that exposure, you may change your mind about what you want to do. The good thing is that any medical school can provide you with the education to enter any residency.

Most of my classmates (and myself) changed their mind and their interests several times before settling on a specialty. No amount of shadowing as a pre-med can give you the information that you need to decide on a specialty before medical school.

My advice is concentrate on getting into medical school if you decide that you want to pursue medicine and then figure out what you want to do as a specialty. You may find that there is something else that you like much better than rads. If not, then pursue radiology but either way, you have to do medical school first.

 

[ITGUY33]

I wanted to thank everyone who has replied to my post to this point. Everyone has given great advice and insight. I have been pretty lucky with my GPA numbers although I REALLY do enjoy the sciences. I will continue to gather information to help me make decisions on the questions I have and will continue to post more questions.

Thanks again for everyone's advice.

 

[Vihsadas]

...you'll be forty-something in 10 years no matter what you do, and the only thing you can control is whether you'll be debugging a TCP/IP stack, or debugging a patient. 😛

Oh lord, that one hurt!